Summer surprises include good, bad

August 10, 2007

Summer is almost over. I know this because my desk is piling up with stuff that has to be done before school starts, and certain people who are waiting on that stuff have very strained looks on their faces. The thermostat says that summer is in full force, but it's almost over. That being said, I thought I would share some surprises that I encountered this summer. OK, so not all of these are exactly surprises. Some were very much expected by me, but I'll feign surprise to protect the guilty. After spending 25 years in the South, there are certain foods that I grew to love that you just don't get in restaurants around here. Nowhere that I have found in Aberdeen can I order up some grits and red-eye gravy with my eggs. Another menu item sadly missing in Aberdeen has been real, authentic southern pork barbecue. I know a lot of places that have barbecue on their menu, but they would be run out of any Georgia town for trying to pass it off as southern cuisine. However, on our date night, my wife (a native of the South) took me to Schaffer's BBQ on south Lincoln Street. I had read the news article on this place opening and I had read its claims of being authentic southern barbecue. I was skeptical at best. However, this experience was one of this summer's best surprises. The pulled pork was so good "it'll make you wanna slap your momma." For those of you not familiar with the South, that is a very quaint expression of joy. Anyway, while there are certain aspects of this establishment that need improvement (like a pecan pie and real cornbread), you owe it to yourself to pay a visit. Under the feigned surprised category, I was shocked to see that the Dennis Hellwig Beef Bypass won't be built anytime soon. If you remember the meetings during the pre-vote days, we, the citizens of Aberdeen, were all but promised the bypass was going to be a reality. In fact, I'm pretty sure we were promised it would be a reality. After all, everyone knows that Melgaard Road and the rest of our city streets can't handle any more traffic. Now that the beef plant is a done deal, the truth comes out that the bypass isn't even on the planning board ... not even being talked about. Surprise! As one who finds plenty to complain about when it comes to our city government, I was pleasantly surprised to hear that outdoor seating will be allowed on Main Street. I never have understood the ordinance behind blocking this since outdoor seating is so successful in other cities across the country. I hope that this will spur the possibility of new restaurants opening downtown and existing restaurants expanding to include outdoor dining. How many are surprised that the Simmons renovation is over budget? Everyone who has ever built so much as a doghouse knows that change orders will kill your budget. It seems like there are weekly change orders on this project. Perhaps a little more pre-planning will keep things under control. We saw the same lack of planning in the high school when they had to build an addition to store stage equipment shortly after the school opened. Under the not-so-surprising but pleasant nonetheless, is the new water park that replaced the old South Side swimming pool. Anything that was around when my sisters were kids probably needs replacing and what they came up with in the water park is tremendous. There are, of course, many others. Such as how many are shocked that there is still no permanent restaurant in the airport? To plan an airport without a real restaurant was a tremendous blunder, but not a surprise. Then there was the surprising flood and the results that shocked some but were expected by others. Of course the waters brought the expected devastation to many and later it brought hordes of mosquitoes. There was the unexpected plus of actually seeing water in Moccasin Creek, however that is long gone and the good old Mog is back to normal. The best part of the flood (if there is a best part) was the scores of volunteers who poured in to Aberdeen to help in anyway they could. It was almost enough to restore my faith in humanity ... almost. Summer's almost over but I'm sure there will be more surprises (or not) in store. Rick Riedel is owner of Riedel Consulting, a conflict management and negotiation firm. Write to him at American News, P.O. Box 4430, Aberdeen, S.D., 57402, or e-mail americannews@aberdeennews.com.